outdoor dining

You can’t miss this sky-blue crêperie near the corner of the Mission’s main intersection, 16th and Valencia. A sidewalk table makes you part of the neighborhood scene, whereas the pub-like dining room offers an array of seating options to suit your mood—the counter for a casual bite, the bar for mingling or a corner table for getting cozy. Eats:What's on your menu.: Breton-style buckwheat crêpes are the base for a long list of savory sauces and fillings—shrimp with parsley butter, caramelized onions, ratatouille and seafood sauce, for instance, or smoked salmon with crème fraîche and scallions—available for diners to mix and match. White-flour dessert crêpes ooze with citrus butter and homemade jam or the ever-popular Nutella and banana. Salads and charcuterie plates round out the menu.

This dark, English-style pub on the edge of the Presidio is bar-casual in the front room, while the back is devoted to white-tablecloth dining. Celebrities (Sean Penn, Jerry Springer and local boy Gavin Newsom) turn up here from time to time, and on warm afternoons you can grab a table on the outdoor patio and sip your pint in the sunshine. Eats:What's on your menu.: Most people eat at the bar, where they order a burger and fries, a Reuben piled with kraut or a generous helping of fish-and-chips. In the back dining room, the menu is more refined—here you’ll see steakhouse-style rib eyes, escargots and petrale sole in a caper-butter sauce.

Google Maps Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=941+Cole+St.,+San+Francisco&sll=37.787215,-122.446769&sspn=0.011837,0.019312&g=500+Presidio+Ave.,+San+Francisco&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr

This casual neighborhood bistro offers a few tables of sidewalk dining and a honeysuckle-laden back deck. At night, cozy blankets are kindly provided to ward off the chill.

Eats:What's on your menu.: <p>Breakfast raises the bar and brings in early risers from all around town. The gingerbread pancakes and heavenly eggs Benedict with a delicate hollandaise sauce can’t be beat. For dinner, don’t miss the veal osso bucco; desserts include a rich brownie.</p>

Diners from all over the city trek to the Marina to unwind under a tented, heat-lamp-warmed back patio, which is reached by practically walking through the teeny open kitchen. Tight tables of twosomes fill the dimly lit, narrow dining room. Eats:What's on your menu.: French-inspired small plates let you try a variety of different dishes. Start your meal with the slightly sweet foie gras seared with seasonal fruit or a plate of sauteéd calamari with fennel and olives. Don’t miss the thinly sliced, buttery flatiron steak paired with garlic-roasted potatoes.

If you’re in the mood for an upmarket French meal, this is the place. Named for its authentic zinc-topped bar (as well as the colloquial French term for cafe), this bistro has all the charm of Paris. Eats:What's on your menu.: Chef Max Braud and wife and co-owner Diana hail from France and excel at specialties such as house-made terrine of foie gras and house-smoked salmon. It’s open all day, so hungry shoppers can stop in for some jazz and bowls of steamed mussels and small plates of escargots in the afternoon. Pull up a chair on the fig-and-lemon-tree-adorned patio and sample a flight of wines from the Loire Valley.